One of the many pleasures of being a grandparent is doing homework with your grandchildren. After listening to my grandson's reading homework (he did amazing, thank you), we went outside to have supper (week before Pesach; you understand). After washing, he started drying his hands on his shirt. I told him that he shouldn't do that, because he doesn't want to forget his learning (Mishna Brura 158:45). His older brother burst out with, "That explains why I have stains on my clothes and keep getting low grades!" He does have stains on his clothes, he most certainly does not get low grades; so says the proud grandfather. I also thought it was right clever to turn a bit of mussar into a way to shed responsibility for his actions. They grow up so fast.
But, really; who doesn't like shortcuts? J. Pierrepont Finch had his book, "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." We have our סגולות... don't we? Having trouble finding a shidduch for your daughter? Hmm... did you make a kiddush celebrating her birth? Having parnassa issues? Eat more bread meals so you can be careful to use a full cup of water when you wash? Can't find your car keys? Put tzedaka in the right pushkeh. See? Easy shmeezy.
Yet, you will find that the gemara s teeming with the dire consequences of even refraining from normal השתדלות/efforts: Refraining from teaching your child a trade is tantamount to teaching him to be a professional criminal. Everything is in the hands of heaven; except fear/reverence of heaven and getting the flu. Any delay in actively seeking the soul mate decreed for you from 40 days before your birth may result in you losing her forever. Forget about whether or not סגולות are effective; when do you even have a chance to try one out!? After all, it seems that your waking hours need to be pretty much filled with normal השתדלות just avoiding horrific consequences.
Please hear me well, there is absolutely nothing wrong/anti-Torah/chukas ha'goyim-ish about סגולות. We do have real, live השתדלות codified into halacha in Shulchan Aruch. Using a brimming full cup when washing for a bread meal is a סגולה for parnassa. Lighting mitzvah candles is a סגולה for having children who will grew up straight and true. Overflowing the havdala cup, being careful with crumbs, not wiping your hands on your garments nor donning them two at a time, and on and on. The wrong/anti-Torah/chakas ha'goyim-ness is looking for easy shmeezy short cuts and trying to outsmart the system to get something for nothing; metagaming the Creator Himself, as it were.
So, then, what is the function of סגולות? It seems to me that too much success with nothing but oodles of השתדלות can be very dangerous. That kind of success can lead to on of the worst sins: כוחי ועוצם ידי/self-made man syndrome. However, once you are fully engaged going full bore השתדלות, but then top if off with some סגולות -- things which are completely beyond human logic and all the more so, control -- well, then, you can't possibly feel all כוחי ועוצם ידי. Quite the opposite, you are going to have to admit -- with real, live actions in the eyes of all your peers -- that you are not in control.
So it would seem that סגולות are not really a short cut at all, but barriers to keep you from going off the rails. I therefore humbly add my own suggestion: Next time you are ready to utilize one of those סגולות, make a simple declaration: Behold! I am ready and prepared to admit in front of all Creation... I am not in charge.
But, really; who doesn't like shortcuts? J. Pierrepont Finch had his book, "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." We have our סגולות... don't we? Having trouble finding a shidduch for your daughter? Hmm... did you make a kiddush celebrating her birth? Having parnassa issues? Eat more bread meals so you can be careful to use a full cup of water when you wash? Can't find your car keys? Put tzedaka in the right pushkeh. See? Easy shmeezy.
Yet, you will find that the gemara s teeming with the dire consequences of even refraining from normal השתדלות/efforts: Refraining from teaching your child a trade is tantamount to teaching him to be a professional criminal. Everything is in the hands of heaven; except fear/reverence of heaven and getting the flu. Any delay in actively seeking the soul mate decreed for you from 40 days before your birth may result in you losing her forever. Forget about whether or not סגולות are effective; when do you even have a chance to try one out!? After all, it seems that your waking hours need to be pretty much filled with normal השתדלות just avoiding horrific consequences.
Please hear me well, there is absolutely nothing wrong/anti-Torah/chukas ha'goyim-ish about סגולות. We do have real, live השתדלות codified into halacha in Shulchan Aruch. Using a brimming full cup when washing for a bread meal is a סגולה for parnassa. Lighting mitzvah candles is a סגולה for having children who will grew up straight and true. Overflowing the havdala cup, being careful with crumbs, not wiping your hands on your garments nor donning them two at a time, and on and on. The wrong/anti-Torah/chakas ha'goyim-ness is looking for easy shmeezy short cuts and trying to outsmart the system to get something for nothing; metagaming the Creator Himself, as it were.
So, then, what is the function of סגולות? It seems to me that too much success with nothing but oodles of השתדלות can be very dangerous. That kind of success can lead to on of the worst sins: כוחי ועוצם ידי/self-made man syndrome. However, once you are fully engaged going full bore השתדלות, but then top if off with some סגולות -- things which are completely beyond human logic and all the more so, control -- well, then, you can't possibly feel all כוחי ועוצם ידי. Quite the opposite, you are going to have to admit -- with real, live actions in the eyes of all your peers -- that you are not in control.
So it would seem that סגולות are not really a short cut at all, but barriers to keep you from going off the rails. I therefore humbly add my own suggestion: Next time you are ready to utilize one of those סגולות, make a simple declaration: Behold! I am ready and prepared to admit in front of all Creation... I am not in charge.
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